From drought to deluge; the high level of rainfall at the end of last week and over the weekend is likely to have a negative effect on grass growth for the coming week. Already last week saw a slight reduction in growth of across many farms farms ranging from 56 to 79 kgDM/ha. Mid-day temperatures remain in the high teens but the high moisture levels in the soil are dropping 9am soil temperatures from 18.0 degrees to approximately 16.0 degrees and consequently slowing growth. More of the same can be expected for the coming week so budget accordingly. When setting up your grass wedge for the next round of grazing, prepare for a 19-20 day rotation in line with lower growths.

For those of you who have heavy covers ahead of cows, it is difficult to get dry conditions to remove them as pit or bale silage. With lower growth rates, be sure that you have not set demand too high for too long, until the silage is cut. If the surplus paddocks are very high covers (>2000 kgDM/ha) then don’t be tempted to graze them but remove them as soon as possible and allow them back into the platform.

The high growth rates from June to date have allowed many farmers to satisfy their winter silage needs – and suggested a reduction in the nitrogen on the grazing platform. But be careful. The past 10 days has seen many farms or paddocks on individual farms gone “hungry”, and when the questions were asked, the common answer was a reduction in nitrogen application of a delay in application after grazing. It is likely that soil nitrogen reserves are low after heavy rainfall and grazing conditions in April and May. Best practice is to spread nitrogen as soon as possible after grazing, preferably spreading twice a week. On some farms it is justified to reduce nitrogen rate, but be vigilant and monitor the subsequent response and be prepared to top-up if necessary.

The increase in moisture levels has also stimulated a burst of growth in weeds, especially in recently tilled ground. Some kale crops are under pressure and being suffocated by weed growth. There is no effective herbicide for control of weeds in kale. Once the kale stays above the weeds then it has a chance, but if it gets submerged then it is likely that there will be significant losses in yield and even crop failure. Unfortunately in this case it is best to spray off with round-up and re-sow with an alternative crop like forage rape. Reseeded perennial ryegrass pastures have also seen an increase in weed growth in the past 10 days. While it is best to apply a post emergence undersown spray for their control, I have recently seen a heavily infested pasture being grazed to find that the weeds all died off after grazing. In this case the dominant weeds were Redshank, Fat Hen, and Mayweed along with some Chickweed.